My entire class (19 first graders) just so happens to be English language learners. Typically folks want to know right away if this means I know how to speak Spanish... sadly, I do not. I've certainly picked up some of the Spanish-language skills, more this year than my other years of teaching. I try speaking the language at least a little bit every day, but for the most part I am much better at understanding what is being said rather than conversing myself. It's embarrassing and not something I'm proud of- but it currently is what it is.
So today I was sitting with a small group of students who were working on their coin books. Out of the blue I was asked about what I eat and what I don't eat since I'm a vegetarian. Seeing this as an opportunity to brush up on my meat product "foreign language" skills, I forged ahead.
Me: "Uhhh. No carne. No pollo. No hamburgesa. Nooooo, hey, how do you say 'hot dog' in Spanish?"
Students: (scratching their heads- always adds a nice, solid dramatic flair) "Hmmmm. I don't know? Maybe 'hot dog,' like in English?"
Students: "Yeah, yeah... 'hot dog' like in English!"
One student: "Noooo. Maybe it's caliente perro!"
Me: "Caliente perro?"
Students and me: "Ha-ha-ha-ha, ahhh, ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Caliente perro! HOT DOG!!!"
Phew! Good times in the first grade classroom!
So I get home a few hours later and I'm all, "Hey Jason, the kids and I decided just today that the Spanish word for hot dogs has to be 'caliente perro.' Boy were the kids and I cracking up about that one!" And you want to know what his response was? He gave a big roll of the eyes and called us bilingual dorks. Oh yeah? He's the dork. How can you NOT laugh at that joke? I mean, come on??? Right? Come on???
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Hot dogs
Posted by Courtney Rose at 8:24 PM
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9 comments:
I'm totally laughing. Jason is the dork! Just kidding - I just read your last post, so really, he is a very sweet guy. (And, I love striped socks too - aren't they the best?)
LOL! I thought it was hilarious!
That's hysterical. ;)
(By the by, it's "hotdog" like in English...but more like "ote dog".
My grandfather moved here from Mexico when he was about 20 and to this day he can't eat hot dogs or drink Coke because those were the only 2 words anyone could understand him saying. He said the first three years he was here he almost always ate a hot dog with a Coke.
Ha!
I teach Spanish to a bunch of native English (and some native Japanese and Chinese) speakers. Sometimes their translations of things from English-->Spanish is amusing. :)
I am on United 0715 from Den to LAX on the 30th and then on the 4th I am on the 0046 at 6:30 am. I got them with United Miles and this was the best I could get with flights and dates and most direct. It would be fun to meet up but I realize you may not want to be there from Wed to Mon! I love the hot dog story.
Like Amanda's grandfather, one of the first sentences I learned in Slovak was, "Prosim si hot dog s horcicou."> Please give me a hot dog with mustard. Slovak hot dogs are the best in the world, well, at least the mustard is. When I took my 13 year old niece there last year, supposedly to expose her to some "culture," she came home from her European tour (four countries in all) talking most about the Slovak hot dogs and the boy who danced with her at 'stuzkova'. Sigh.
And that just got me thinking: I wonder how many of us out there have hot-dog stories? You do. Amanda does. I do. Do hot dogs open up the gateway to drama or at least interesting anecdotes?
Well I giggled, but my sense of humor might not be the best indicator?!? My only hot dog story is a gross one, so I won't share;-)
OK,hotdog story advice:Do not feed your children hotdogs,if they have a fever and may projectile vomit!!! (not pretty!)
Just last weekend I dropped a hot dog on the floor at a gas station convenience store whilst on my road trip back home. I was trying to carefully place the plumpy dog in the bun, but he took a hiatus and ended up on the floor. I did offer to pay for the lost chub, but the nice lady at the counter giggled and said I shouldn't pay for it. She then entrusted me with the dirty little secret which was that she often times drops the hot weiners on the floor in the morning whilst trying to place them on the cooking roller! Whew, Har!!
I always hear "perro caliente"...of course, as so literal. My maternal grandparents were also from Mexico. My Dad learned to speak Spanish fluently while married to my mother because he got tired of not knowing what was going on in my grandparents' house. To this day he gets the biggest kick out of grossly literal translations like translationg "holy cow" from English to Spanish, resulting in "Santa Vaca!"...which always puts me in fits!
Cindy
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